


One Step

by Calesvol



Series: Naruto Events [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:55:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25770973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calesvol/pseuds/Calesvol
Summary: Sometimes, you have to take life one step at a time.
Relationships: Katou Dan/Tsunade
Series: Naruto Events [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2185356
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	One Step

Warning(s): G, death mention

* * *

The more people she lost, the harder it became. With the loss of Nawaki, Tsunade had never felt more alone. It had happened four times before already; twice her with her granduncle and grandfather, another with her parents during the war, and now with Nawaki just days before. Each loss seemed to swallow a little more of her heart, making the Senju grow cold and desolate inside. Even the presence of the other members of Team Sarutobi could do nothing to ease this pain.

Especially not that Orochimaru that spoke of it as though it were some horrible weakness. Sometimes, she felt as though that bastard were the one responsible.

“ _Dammit!_ ” Tsunade’s foot slammed into the shore along the Naka River, the sudden diffusion of power causing an enormous, cutting splash to cross the river’s breadth and crash into the opposite embankment. Some of the soil sloping the small hill that arose from each side slid down in a cascade, the blonde too caught in her own grief to care.

She was the last Senju. Aside from her own ailing grandmother, she was the last of her clan. Maybe someday it could be absolved by settling down, but she felt as though the idea of a family was an impossible one, especially when there was only one person she could dreaming of starting it with.

“Tsunade?” The tear-stricken young woman had been gently turned to face him, the kind but concerned expression of Dan Katō a deadly trap to her grief. “Are you alright? I haven’t seen you since the funeral, and I got worried.”

And no wonder. She’d been drinking for days straight again, and it hardly took a genius to know that Tsunade looked like an absolute wreck. Hell, then and there, she could’ve lied. Even with her puffy eyes and disheveled hair and mismatched clothing arranged in a shoddy attempt of self-care, Tsunade wished she could’ve just lied.

“No, I’m not, Dan. I must look horrible,” Tsunade croaked as she took a fortifying gulp of air to try and clear her throat a little. “I’m sorry you have to see me like this.”

“You’re human, Tsunade. You can’t help it when grief hurts as much as it does,” Dan consoled with a meager smile, tepidly reaching to take one of her hands. “I still remember how much it hurt when my sister died. It still does.”

In that aching moment of vulnerability, she couldn’t help but lace their digits together, even if she couldn’t stop thinking about how gross her hands must feel from a lack of tending to them. How dry and even callused they felt. But, his warmth was a balm that soothed her fears, pushing them away.

Their digits entwined, and Dan came a little closer. Enough that their brows could touch in such a boldly tender move.

“Does it get any easier?” Tsunade murmured, barely above a whisper. “Are you able to move on, eventually?”

Dan’s eyes sank closed. “Eventually,” he conceded in a kind of agreement, but it wasn’t lip service just to make her feel better. “It’ll scab, then scar over. Eventually, maybe the skin there won’t feel as weirdly smooth as the rest, or it will. But, when that time comes, you won’t be bleeding anymore. And sometimes, that’s the best you can hope for.”

Tsunade shoulders shook with an abrupt sob as she roped her arms around the man’s neck, her heart aching with relief and mourning all at once. There was hope things would be okay, and maybe it wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be something.

As Dan embraced her back, she felt like she could face the future one step at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: For Tsunade Appreciation Week 2020 Day 5: Free Space.


End file.
